Riñihue Lake
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| Riñihue Lake | |
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| Coordinates | |
| Primary sources | Enco River |
| Primary outflows | San Pedro River |
| Basin countries | Chile |
| Max length | around 28.63 km |
| Max width | around 5.27 km |
| Surface area | 77,5 km² |
| Average depth | 162 m |
| Max depth | 323 m |
| Shore length1 | around 72.84 km |
| Surface elevation | around 108 meters |
| Settlements | Riñihue |
| 1 Shore length is an imprecise measure which may not be standardized for this article. | |
The Riñihue Lake (Spanish: Lago Riñihue) is a lake of glacial origin in eastern Valdivia Province in southern Chile. It is surrounded by several mountains. The eastern side receives the waters of the Panguipulli Lake, by the Enco River its main contributor. It is the last of the Seven Lakes. It west is it cuted into two arm by the Tralcan mount, and in the east side lies the Mocho-Choshuenco volcano.
[edit] The Riñihuaso
The Riñihue lake became famous after an event known as the "Riñihuazo", which threatened to destroy several towns, villages and cities in southern Chile. During the Great Chilean Earthquake a landslide near the Tralcan Mount dammed the Riñihue Lake. As the water levels of Riñihue rose more than 20 meters, the dam was in danger of breaking and flooding everything downstream, including the city of Valdivia. There were plans for evacuating the city, and many people left the city. All this ended when a large team of workers was able to open a channel for drainage in the landslide. Then the water levels of the lake sunk slowly to its normal levels. There is evidence that a similar landslide and earthquake happened in 1575.
[edit] External links
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